I really didn't want to burn it.

To her surprise, Li Ang did nothing; apart from the thick smoke obstructing the view, nothing else happened.

It wasn't until the thick smoke cleared that Leonardo da Vinci discovered that Leon had already escaped.

However, Leonardo da Vinci seemed unconcerned and instead showed a look of confirmation.

"As expected, that guy must have some purpose in showing up here!"

Leonardo da Vinci released his magic bird.

"Go, inform everyone. If Li Ang is found, notify everyone immediately."

"Cuckoo~"

The bird spread its wings and flew into the sky, quickly disappearing into the night.

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Meanwhile, the battle between Ryougi Shiki and Sigurd continued.

"Tsk, she really is my most troublesome type."

Ryougi Shiki pursed her lips, her hands moving swiftly as she wielded her longsword to fend off Sigurd's attacks.

Heroic Spirits with strong martial arts skills like Sigurd and Cú Chulainn are not exactly natural counters to Ryougi Shiki, but they are the most troublesome type.

If it's a Servant like Caster who deals pure ranged damage, Ryougi Shiki wouldn't have any fear at all.

That kind of melee weakling can be easily killed with a single blow by Ryougi Shiki as long as she rushes into her attack range.

On the contrary, Ryougi Shiki had to fight with all her might against Servants like Sigurd, who were skilled in melee combat.

"That's what makes it fun! It wouldn't be interesting if they were killed in one go!"

Sigurd's immense power greatly excited Ryougi Shiki.

Although Ryougi Shiki had long since lost the urge to reverse things, the competitive spirit to fight against the strong remained in the heart of this Yamato Nadeshiko lady.

Fighting against legendary heroes is something that Ryougi Shiki is truly exciting to do.

Bah!

The swords in their hands clashed once more, and then they both retreated simultaneously.

"Should I say... as expected of Ryougi Shiki? Your eyes are truly dangerous."

Sigurd's stern face broke into a slight smile. Although he had the upper hand in the battle, he had been walking a tightrope. A single misstep could have resulted in Ryougi Shiki striking him on the death line.

Even so, Sigurd's confident smile remained unchanged.

"Then what should I say? As expected of the great hero Sigurd of the Norse? Except for the issue of gender, he is a perfect warrior."

Ryougi Shiki shrugged and forcefully swung the long sword in her hand.

"Well, I'm afraid I'm not qualified to say anything about you in this regard. After all, my taste in men isn't much better."

"No, you chose the strongest man in the world."

Sigurd's lips curled into a meaningful smile.

"Aren't you satisfied yet?"

"Speak up!"

The next moment, Ryougi Shiki launched another attack.

Sigurd leaped forward, and the several swords around him merged into one greatsword.

M78 Nebula 756365104

The clash between the lightsaber and the longsword produced orange sparks, and the two passed each other in an instant.

The sword in Sigurd's hand was cut into pieces by Ryougi Shiki.

"There's really no other way~ Ryougi Shiki, your abilities are too troublesome! I have to make you leave here!"

Sigurd pushed up his glasses, and his entire body burst into a blood-red magical light.

Chapter 321 Awakening of the Dragon Vein

A secret prison in Lin'an.

Click, click.

With a slight cracking sound, the handcuffs, which had been frozen into ice, broke into pieces and fell to the ground.

"All right."

Kadoc flexed his wrists, a relaxed smile on his face.

"Thank you for your help, Cast."

The silver-haired girl shook her head slightly: "Master, you're the one who's worked so hard."

"It's nothing really, those guys (Chaldea) don't have a penchant for torturing prisoners." Kadoc chuckled and patted his Servant's head. "But it's really great that you came to see me."

"Um……"

The silver-haired princess blushed slightly and lowered her head, turning her gaze away.

"Alright, let's get the Kirshtalia Wodim mission done quickly."

Kadoc asked his follower, "Have you finished your preparations?"

"Ah."

“Then let’s begin.” Kadoc raised the back of his right hand, revealing his Command Seal. “In the name of the Command Seal, Cast, activate magic! In the name of the Command Seal, Cast, activate the Dragon Veins!”

A blue magic circle appeared beneath the silver-haired princess's feet, and an ice sculpture slowly rose from within it.

"By, offer your power to my frost... Disturbance... Chaos... Activate... Turn all things into ice and snow!"

Ice-blue light pierced through the building and reached the sky.

At the same time, the connection points of the spiritual veins in various parts of Lin'an began to stir, and crystal-clear ice pillars rose from the ground.

"Then, let's get started."

Kadoc exhaled a long breath as he sensed the increasingly restless magical energy in the air, then placed his hand on the ice sculpture, just like his servant.

"Four ice spirits, heed my plea! Suppress the dragon here!"

Beneath the ice sculpture, a four-ring-like magic circle began to emerge, with the inner and outer rings rotating rapidly in opposite directions. The already strangely shaped ice crystals began to shimmer with an eerie blue light.

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"what's the situation?"

Li Ang sensed something was wrong the moment the anomaly occurred.

Before he could even confirm what was going on, Kadoc and Anastasia activated their magic, and ice pillars began to emerge from the ground.

[Host, something's not right! The other party seems to be awakening a [dragon]!]

"real or fake!"

The analysis of the mourning system made Li Ang grin; he felt immense pressure.

During the brief period Li Ang spent at Chaldea before, he had specifically researched and learned about the magic terminology of the Type-Moon world.

He certainly knew what the "dragon" the system was referring to.

The dragons here are not the evil dragons of Western mythology, but something completely different.

Due to the differences in the development of Eastern and Western cultures, the differences between Chinese and Western myths and legends before modern times were very large.

Therefore, when Western culture was introduced to China, in order to help people understand it as quickly as possible, many translators at the time chose to associate some words with existing Chinese words.

The most famous are various fantasy creatures, among which the most representative are dragons and phoenixes.

Before modern times, after thousands of years of evolution, the phoenix had transformed from a pair of sacred birds, the male and female, into a phoenix representing imperial power and auspiciousness.

The concept of the phoenix was further "innovated" by Guo Moruo in his 1920 poem "Phoenix Nirvana".

In this poem, the author directly translates the phoenix, the immortal bird of Western mythology, as a phoenix, and endows its ability to be reborn from the ashes with the Buddhist term "Nirvana."

As the poem spread and was popularized, the original Chinese phoenix began to take on Phoenix characteristics. The phrase "phoenix rebirth from the ashes" even became an explanation of the phoenix's representative abilities.

This poem has misled many people. Some authors who write prehistoric novels have even set the Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Symbols and unrelated to the phoenix, as a member of the phoenix clan because of it.

If the confusion between the phoenix and the Phoenix is ​​due to the fact that both are birds, then the translation of Dragon as "dragon" is rather strange, since dragons in Chinese and Western legends are completely different creatures.

Western dragons have very obvious reptilian characteristics, while the dragons in Eastern legends, if traced back to their origins, should be derived from lightning in nature.

In fact, in the Type-Moon universe, although both Eastern and Western dragons are fantasy species from the Age of Gods, the differences between them are even greater because the Age of Gods actually existed.

The most fundamental difference between the two is that Western dragons are animals that actually existed in the age of gods, while Eastern dragons are completely fantastical creatures.

Despite the existence of the Age of Gods, the dragons of the East, when traced back to their origins, are also lightning—a product of pure fantasy. Thus, the only "animals" that truly existed in the Eastern Age of Gods were the alligator dragons—commonly known as the Yangtze alligator spirits.

Of course, it is still possible to summon dragons using specific methods, but at this time the dragons are more like the Heroic Spirits in the Holy Grail War, that is, a collection of human imagination.

This is why Romani was so shocked by Phil's existence, because the Eastern Dragon was just a legend.

However, besides dragon species like the alligator dragon, or rather, half-dragons, there is another type of dragon that truly exists: the dragon vein.

Conceptually speaking, dragon veins are actually spiritual veins, which are a kind of "path" that flows with magical power, primarily the energy of the earth, and can be described as a magical circuit in nature.

Because spiritual veins possess magical power that is difficult for humans to attain, they are widely used in the Type-Moon magic world.

The most classic method is to use spiritual veins to summon heroic spirits. Whether it is the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City or the Holy Grail Summoning System of Chaldea, they all use the magic power of spiritual veins to materialize legendary heroic spirits.

If that's really all there is to it, then dragon veins and spiritual veins should be no different, just with different names.

However, this is the Type-Moon world, a world where human beliefs can be materialized.

Although it's just a different name, the more people use it, the more subconsciously they come to believe that dragon veins truly contain dragons. And when this idea is captured by the suppressive force, it produces a very strange chemical reaction—dragons dwell in the spiritual veins of the Eastern land.

Furthermore, major natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis are often interpreted as the work of dragons...

Therefore, dragon veins in the East often have very concrete manifestations, basically taking the shape of a dragon, especially in places where there are legends related to dragons, where spiritual veins often take the shape of a dragon.

In fact, as far as Li Ang knew, most magic tricks that summon Eastern dragons were basically related to dragon veins.

In a sense, in the East, the ability to control this is equivalent to controlling nature.

Clearly, Kirshtalia Wodim wants to be the ruler this time.

"The older the dragon vein, the greater its power. That guy (Kilshtalia) is clearly planning to use this enormous magical power to elevate humanity's status!"

Li Ang rushed against the flow of the panicked crowd, heading towards the direction with the strongest magical fluctuations. He could sense that the dragon vein of Lin'an was on the verge of awakening.

"Now I know why Sigurd launched the attack. He wasn't after me, he was after the whole thing!"

If Shi is not held back, she can stop the magic from activating at any time the magic circle is activated by [killing] the channel through which the magic flows.

However, it's too late to say anything now. With the [Dragon] already formed, Shiki can't stop its awakening unless he kills it directly.

[Isn't the direction of the magic convergence point towards Leifeng Pagoda? Host, do you think the [dragon] might actually be Bai Suzhen? I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the flood of Jinshan Temple!]

"Idiot system! Leifeng Pagoda was first built during the Wuyue Kingdom! This is the Tang Dynasty now, there isn't even a Leifeng Pagoda yet, so where did Bai Suzhen come from!"

[Pshaw, that's really boring.]

"..."

Li Ang didn't want to talk to this broken history system that hadn't even learned its history properly, and was prepared to throw the middle finger at it.

As he just said, there wasn't even a Leifeng Pagoda during the Tang Dynasty, so where did Bai Suzhen come from?! Besides, the story of Bai Suzhen was completed in the Qing Dynasty, and it tells a story from the Song Dynasty.

How could a story set hundreds of years in the future possibly be related to the Tang Dynasty at present!

If it were really Bai Suzhen, Li Ang would have it much easier. He could take advantage of the legendary counter-element and unleash a powerful attack like the Great Heavenly Dragon, taking care of both Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing!

As for why that place became known as "Dragon" even though it didn't have a pagoda, it's not hard to understand. Lin'an City was built along West Lake and the Qiantang River, and Leifeng Pagoda is located on the perpendicular line between the two.

Although Li Ang thought the location of the Jianghu Huiguan Pavilion on Wu Mountain was better, that place was not conducive to the gathering of magical energy, which may be the real reason why the person who cast the spell chose this place.

boom! boom! boom!

By the time Li Ang arrived at the magic node, the enormous ice pillar had already pierced the sky. The ground around the ice pillar had begun to glow with an icy blue light, and specks of frost-like ice crystals began to float in the air.

"It's freezing! It was just the Mid-Autumn Festival a moment ago, and now it's going to be a winter ice and snow festival?"

Li Ang exhaled a breath of cold air and rubbed his hands together.